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AIYIMA A80 Stereo Amplifier & DAC Review

Rate this amplifier and DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 8 3.6%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 34 15.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 126 56.0%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 57 25.3%

  • Total voters
    225
They're not all equal. I tend to prefer SMSL remotes over Topping for instance. Responsiveness differs.
 
They're not all equal. I tend to prefer SMSL remotes over Topping for instance. Responsiveness differs.
Responsiveness is a perceived characteristic of the remote, but for these simple remotes, it has more to do with the MCU on the receiver side.
 
PCM is the correct setting for optical output to any stereo DAC that doesn’t support Dolby.
For A80, PCM should be selected.
Okay then I will pick this up and hope my TV downmixes surround to stereo. Thanks everyone.
 
waiting to get distortion of different frequencies.
 
This is a bargain. A transparent amp with a transparent dac. Just add mode of music delivery (let’s keep it simple - Wiim mini) and some competent speakers. Boom!
And if we don’t expect too much from it in terms of ultimate volume, or it trying to fill a cavernous space, or be able to play every single type of file known to man (or woman) - ie we treat it with the respect a $200 piece of equipment deserves - how can this not be a winner. How much would someone had to spent 30 years ago to get something even close to it. And I am talking here purely sound quality… not gadgets, gizmos, presets, furry finishes, etc. I’m trying to put this into the perspective of $200, and one box. I criticised a review about a £15000 phono preamp a few weeks ago. I didn’t know you could get £15000 of components into a standard sized hifi box, let alone make a vinyl record sound £15000 better! Perspective.
Voted great.
 
Responsiveness is a perceived characteristic of the remote, but for these simple remotes, it has more to do with the MCU on the receiver side.
That makes sense, shouldn't be hard to get it right these days though...
 
A built in EQ would make this a do it all stereo rig. Very inexpensive.
 
They should made one like this without a DAC and cheaper for people that already prefer other another sound signature
 
They should made one like
Everything is available, just from other companies.
The market is saturated with TPA3255 amplifiers.
Aiyima, Douk, Fosi, O-Noorus, 3e Audio and all the nameless ones on ebay and aliexpress.
Find the right one for you.
 
As a happy owner of the OG Aiyima A07, I see some operational additions. Performance-wise, the main improvement seems to be the improved heat management, which enables practical use of a larger power supply.

As for the shutdown behavior, I'm a bit cornfused. TPA 3255 amplifiers have been successfully tested here at much higher power levels. Is the amp shutting down, or the overloaded power supply?
 
Interesting amp.
Price is nice.
VFM
Poor PFFB implementation is a lost opportunity here...
Anyway, I'm more bothered by the gorgeous, but very inaccurate VU meters.
 
Very good looking unit, competitive for its performance and power vs price, but I would prefer it without the DAC and a bit cheaper.
Of course the errors in linearity are sad, but I don't think it would deter me from buying at this price.
 
I have an a80 and a Sony s3700 Blu Ray player, Sony connected to TV with HDMI. The Sony is also connected to the a80 with coax for playing CDs. TV is connected to a80 with optical. I bought the a80 with no power supply, and got a 48v 10a switching supply for about $30. I'm using magnepan mg20.1, no subwoofer. I switched to this set up from a marantz pm7000n and cd6007.

I'll be selling the two marantz units, this sounds just as good and it's a lot smaller - one shelf instead of three. It's also a lot cheaper. And the little video meters are very kewl. Time for me to downsize.

Turntable is connected to a80 RCA inputs with an ifi black label. I don't use it much. I'm not certain all phono pre amps sound the same. It turns out phono pre amps must have ridiculous slew rates. For most electronics 1v/us/volt peak output is adequate, for phono pre amps that number is more like 10.

I like the a80 a lot.

I don't stream so I have no opinion about that. I've ripped most of my CDs, in the near future I expect to hook up a cheap tablet with the USB.

I'm a big believer that you spend your money on transducers - speakers and cartridges. If electronics sound different it's because they're noisy and/or non linear. I have a pass xa-25, it sounds different. It's designed to have about 1% second harmonic distribution at about 3-5 watts. Voices and small groups are simply wonderful. Orchestras are awful, I expect because of IM distortion.
 
I want to try out the TRS balanced connections, currently have line out RCA from the K11 R2R going into the A80 as I run it as a power amp, but if I bought an RCA to TS pair of cables, would that make the TRS ports on the A80 usable and get better dynamics than what I am already hearing anyway?

I'm also running the SS3602 OpAmps for reference and the speakers are Triangle Comete 40th Anniversary.
 
I've had this a for a few days now and very happy with the audio quality both for music and TV playback. Streaming music from Apple Music (HDMI to TV, Optical from TV to the A80) so the DAC is the only DA conversion. Will try swapping the 3255's to LM4562s tomorrow and see what happens. I did the same for the A70 earlier and did enjoy the results. Will report back what happened. :)
 
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